Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw has hinted as a devastating storyline on the way with a mystery health battle for a fan-favourite character on the ITV soap.
The mystery resident is set to face a “big” health diagnosis in the next few weeks, which will rock their lives as well many of their loved ones in the village. The illness or condition is being kept under wraps for now, but the long-running show is working very closely with a charity on the emotional plot.
It is understood the much-loved resident on the show will learn of the devastating health news which could affect them for years to come. Laura likened the new storyline to the soap’s past dementia storyline that changed Ashley Thomas’ life forever after she was diagnosed, before she passed away back in 2017.
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Speaking exclusively to Daily Star and other press, the producer explained the gripping storyline would air for the foreseeable future and the affected character is very “well known” to fans. She told us: “We’ve got a big health storyline coming up that involves one of our most-loved, well-known characters.
“I can’t say at this stage who it is, but it’s definitely going to have a huge impact on their lives and all the people around them, and we’re working closely with an amazing charity who have been guiding us every step of the way. It’s going to be quite a long storyline. It’s going to run over a period for months, years. Think along the lines of Ashley’s dementia storyline, it’s going to be like that.”
While viewers speculate over which resident it could be, many fans have been gripped following Craig Reed’s murder last week.
Over the past week, ITV viewers watched the Dingle court assemble as they attempt to work out who killed Lydia’s rapist. Characters including Mandy Dingle, Caleb Milligan and Sam Dingle are all hiding major secrets. In the trailer, Mandy was seen in tears as she's forced to spill the beans to the family.
Now viewers are convinced that her big secret could have something to do with her health. Taking to social media, one user penned: "I wonder if Mandy's secret relates to her health and she's the new long-running health focused story… I really hope they aren't planning to kill her off!"
Another feared it could be a different character taking on the devastating storyline, as a different viewer countered: "I was thinking more Rodney, Eric or Jimmy." Meanwhile, a third pondered: "Is the health news for Zak Dingle?"
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Speaking about the new Dingle episodes, Laura went on: "We know they're one of our favourite families in the soap and we're going to be doing something a little bit special with the Dingles coming up. I think pretty much all the Dingles are going to be involved and the episodes were filmed in a slightly different way from our usual style and, true to its form, we've played with the format a little bit.
"There's going to be lots of secrets being revealed and all the cast and crew that have been involved in the filming of it have been absolutely raving about it. Having seen the final episodes myself last week, I think it's going to be very memorable."
Emmerdale airs on weekdays on ITV1 from 7.30pm or catch up on ITVX.
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